The Football Association has come under fire from Arsenal and Everton, England's Champions League contenders this season, for its decision to award next season's European places to the FA Cup finalists.

The route to Euro qualification has been through winning or finishing runners-up in the Premier League. But this competition has been reduced to second division status from next year and the top flight will be the new Super League. As that summer-based league will not finish until after the start of the 2011‑12 Champions League the FA has decided to use the FA Cup as an interim means of settling which clubs win Champions League places.

This has not satisfied the Arsenal general manager, Vic Akers, under whom Arsenal won the Premier League 12 times and lifted the FA Cup on 10 occasions.

"I was given the impression that whoever were in pole position at the end of last season's Premier League would be in the Champions League for two years," said Akers.

"The goalposts have been moved. A country's best two teams should be in the Champions League and that won't necessarily happen if you use a knockout competition to hand out places."

The Everton manager, Mo Marley, whose team beat Arsenal in last season's FA Cup final but finished runners-up to the Gunners in the league for a third year running, said: "I don't know how we got to this Champions League decision, but my fear is that a team might go into the Champions League and fail to get past the qualifying stages. That could affect the coefficient ranking of English teams and lead to us losing one of our European places."

"It's not an ideal situation," said the FA's women's leagues co-ordinator, Tessa Hayward. "It is only a one-off, though, and the idea that last year's Premier League winners and runners-up would be in the Champions League was never voiced by the FA – it was never on the table."